


Under the Mask

by TheAvianDragon



Series: Voltron OneShots [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Identity Reveal, Lance goes by the alias 'Petrichor', M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Secret Identity, Superhero keith, superhero lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:42:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAvianDragon/pseuds/TheAvianDragon
Summary: “Look, you’ve got to get out of here! It’s not safe, let Petrichor and I handle this!” Keith pauses at the sound of his partner’s name. “Actually, if you see him can you tell him to get his sorry, Icey butt over here?” Keith asks, his mind otherwise focused on the battle and not his classmate.Lance visibly flinches and jumps, his face paling as he turns to Keith again. “W-why do you think that I know him? I DON’T KNOW HIM!” Lance yells, a little too loud of Keith's liking.“Yeah, I assumed that. I just mean if you see him on the other side of the city or something like maybe he can’t find me” Keith shrugs before saying, “Lance, get to safety, I really don’t want you – oranyonegetting hurt.”Nice save, Keith. Nice save.





	Under the Mask

Explosions echo through the city, screams of terror following close after them as civilian’s rush for safety, pulling strangers with them as they help anyone they can. A young girl – no older than five, screams in the open street, tears streaming down her cheeks as she calls for her parents. A large robotic foot slams down on the pavement a few meters away from her, cars shooting up into the air for a second before they crash back down, each step sending shockwaves through the city.

The robot takes another step, its foot casting a shadow over the girl with small blond piggy-tails, her face morphing into one of horror as she looks up at the metallic foot quickly coming down on top of her. There’s a loud shrill scream and an even louder thump as metal hits concrete. “Jesus, that was too close for comfort,” A teenage boy pants as he holds the girl tightly to his chest, her tears soaking into his red plaid shirt.  In the last minute, he had ran under the foot of the robot and swooped the girl up, skidding across the road with her clutched safely in his arms.

The boy rushes across the street and away from the robot, a loud whirring roar coming from its open mouth as it seems to grow angrier and angrier. “YOU!” The teenager shouts at a mother who’s ushering strangers into a building to hide from the beast rushing around the city. “Look after this girl, she’s lost her mother.” He passes the girl over to the woman and runs off, his midnight hair bobbing as he turns the corner into an alleyway.

The young man is Keith, a high school student at the Galaxy Garrison. He’s a straight ‘A’ student (only because he busts his ass). His life is pretty normal, what you could describe as typical for a teenager. He procrastinates an unhealthy amount, he sits up until god knows when watching YouTube or reading a book. You know, classic teenager stuff.

Well, most of his life is classic teenager stuff; you can’t really classify being a superhero as normal teenager business. Keith rips off his backpack and pulls out his clothes, throwing them onto the ground as he unwraps the jacket from around his waist, throwing it violently into his jacket into his bag. He hops back on one foot as he tries to pull off his shoe, his back slamming into the wall behind him as he continues to strip as fast as humanly possible.

Screams echo through the alleyway as the robot continues to rampage across the city. “Shit, shit, shit,” Keith mumbles as he pulls his jeans over his ankles and throws them into his bag. He fastens the mask over his face, a purple and black gradient mask covering the top half of his face, fading from just below to just above his eyebrows. He sighs deeply as he pulls his arm through his outfit, his gloves at the end cut at the knuckle so his claws could extend and retract without ripping his suit to pieces. His entire suit is skin tight, gradients of purple and black, bright shades of lilac at the end of his feet and hands, swirling up his legs in arms until it fades into the black around his torso and neck.

He combs back his hair as he feels two ears start to poke through. Two black ears grow in the place where his human ones once were, the black fur blending into the midnight his hair around it.  “Stupid Villains not letting me do my stupid homework,” He whispers under his breath as he sprints out of the alley, his nails extending to sharp points as he scales the wall next to him, a different kind of scream filling the street as people spot him.

“IS THAT WILDFIRE?! HE’S HERE TO SAVE US!!” A young woman screams as she points at the boy scaling the building at an alarming rate, his claws digging into the wall as he propels himself up. “If Petrichor could show up too, that’d be great!” Honestly, Keith is thinking the same thing. YOU KNOW, HE COULD REALLY USE A PARTNER RIGHT ABOUT NOW, BUT YOU KNOW, HE’LL JUST TAKE ON THE GIANT ROBOT BY HIMSELF. **THIS IS FINE.**

“OI!! OVER HERE!!” Keith yells as he loudly claps, his claws extruding further as he hisses. The robot turns with a loud creak, his gears whirring and the springs snapping as the head turns to look at Keith, the eyes glowing a bright white as it the entire body moves towards him. “YEAH!! THAT’S IT, YOU BUNCH OF GEARS!! COME ON!!” Keith jumps into the air as a robotic arm takes a swoop at him, the tight hand clenching around the air where he once was.

A whirring like roar slices through the air as the robot grabs for Keith again, its hand missing yet again as Keith jumps off the closed fist of the other one to send himself flying. He brought his fist down onto the metallic head of the robot, his nails scratching long lines down the face, sparks popping from the wires he cut through.

“AHHHH! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!” Keith screams as he was swatted away by the massive metallic hand, sending him flying across the city with one well-placed smack. His pinkish-purple skin is quickly covered in dirt and dust as he skids across the city pavement, cuts and grazes littering his skin as he digs his claws into the ground to bring himself to a halt.

“Wildfire?” He hears a voice behind him, the shock made clear by the slight quiver in their voice. Keith is still on the ground, his claws firmly planted in the ground as he rests on all fours. He whips his head back and glares, baring his teeth threateningly at the assumed threat. You can’t really blame him, he’s in battle mode and his Galra instincts are more attack first and ask questions later.

The Cuban boy raises his hands in a surrender position as he awkwardly laughs, stepping back from the snarling teen. “Calm down kit- Wildfire,” Lance stumbles over his words, his face flushing brightly as he tries to shake off his mistake. Keith’s ears twitch as he tilts his head, quirking his eyebrow to look at the boy behind him.

“Lance? What are you doing here?” Keith says as he finally stands up, brushing off his black suit as he not so subtly checks for cuts and grazes along his own body. He can see that Lance is still in the same clothes he was when school ended less than two hours ago, still dressed in ripped jeans and a loose tank top. They both in the same grade, meaning they’re around each other almost 24/7, not to mention they’re in the same friendship group – so there’s no escaping each other

“I was just heading home from school when the rob- Hey, how do you know me?” _Shoot_. Keith feels his heart catch in his throat, his stomach dropping in an instant as his blood runs cold. Half the time he forgets when he’s which ‘persona’ he's supposed to be in. You can't blame him for forgetting that Wildfire doesn't actually know Lance all while Keith is his best friend. It’s draining beyond belief, even more so in the middle of a heated battle.

“Oh – I – uh!” He scrambles for excuses as he stutters out fractions of sentences, his words clashing violently as his various excuses messily meld together into one massive drawn out abomination. He loudly clears his throat as he ears flatten on his head subconsciously. “I make it a priority of mine to know all of the civilians!” He can tell that Lance doesn't buy that for a second, but was too lazy and/or doesn't really care enough to pursue the conversation further.

“Look, you’ve got to get out of here! It’s not safe, let Petrichor and I handle this!” Keith pauses at the sound of his partner’s name. “Actually, if you see him can you tell him to get his sorry, Icey butt over here?” Keith asks, his mind otherwise focused on the battle and not his classmate.

Lance visibly flinches and jumps, his face paling as he turns to Keith again. “W-why do you think that I know him? I DON’T KNOW HIM!” Lance yells, a little too loud of Keith's liking.

“Yeah, I assumed that. I just mean if you see him on the other side of the city or something like maybe he can’t find me” Keith shrugs before saying, “Lance, get to safety, I really don’t want you – or _anyone_ getting hurt.” Nice save Keith. Nice save.

Lance nods and runs off, turning a sharp corner as he sprints away. Keith can barely see Lance slipping his backpack off of his shoulders as he turns the corner and is once again out of sight. Keith eventually pushes back up off the ground, wall jumping his way through the alleyway to his left as he finally jumps back onto the tops of the buildings.  

The robot is about to make a run towards him when it’s suddenly stopped in its place, its entire body flinging down towards the road below as it’s foot is caught on something. The beast collapsing on the floor with a loud clang.

Keith feels a smile make its way long his face when he sees the massive ice crystal encasing one of the robot’s feet, an explosion looking shard of ice slammed down heavily on the ground. “Wow, whoever made that must have been so strong, and handsome, and brave.”

Keith snorts out a laugh and glances at the boy next to him; already fully aware of who it is. “I don’t know, it reminds me of someone really annoying – and late,” Keith says as he fully turns to the body next to him, his ice blue hair blowing in the wind, specks of blue covering his otherwise tan skin. Petrichor finally decided to make an entrance.

“Man, you were really struggling without me, huh?” He mocks, leaning forward to look over at the robot that was powered off, the fall breaking its power source.

“Pfft, this one was just easier for you – or need I remind you about that fire demon from last week?” Petrichor was basically useless during their last fight, every single shard of ice melting before he could even attack.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waves Keith off. “Sorry I was late, Kitten.” Keith rolls his eyes at his nickname, snorting as he shakes his head, faking annoyance.

“Whatever, Peri,” Keith says as he turns away from the robot, the police already moving in to move it out of the street. At first, you’d think living in the area with superheroes and supervillains would be horrible for an economy, but you’d be surprised how many people are willing to risk their safety just to watch battles. Plus, SO MANY fangirls buy memorabilia from battles all across the world, so it really pays for itself – they’re probably going to pull apart the robot too, so that’ll help pay for damages.

“So? What’s it like being a super nerd?” Peri asks, throwing his arm around Keith’s shoulders, sending shocks through the smaller superhero. He’s not really surprised that he fell for the man that’s saved him countless times at this point.

“I don’t know, what is it like?”

“WHOA!! RUDE!!” The other boy laughs, jogging up to catch up with his partner that’s now walking away. “How was school today?” He asks as the two of them jump from rooftop to rooftop on their nightly patrol.

“Pretty fine. Classes are a nightmare, I’d rather take on villains all day than sit in another physics lecture,” Keith says as he looks out over the sunset, the stars in the sky slowly starting to appear above them, casting a blue, calming light over the once screaming city.

The Cuban boy hums in response, nodding as he looks out at the sunset too. Keith sits down and slowly feels his feline features fade away, his fuzzy ears disappearing yet again as his skin flushes back to its usual peachy tone. “Ha, it’s always weird to see you de-transform,” Peri says as he flops down next to Keith, leaning back on his elbows as he legs hang over the side of the roof.

“It’s not my fault cat ears are annoying,” He huffs, his yellowish eyes finally fading back into white as he completely de-transforms, and is yet again just Keith. “Of course, you’re more annoying.” 

“Jeez, if you don’t stop bullying me I’m going to look for a new partner," Peri says, this threat empty. 

“Nah, you love me.” The sun is completely set now, the lights all over the city flickering on, casting an artificial yellow glow throughout the streets, light flooding out from every open window and door. 

“I don’t know… I’m more of a dog person, kitten.”

“Why do you even call me that? You know how much I hate it?” Peri has been calling him that for years, it was actually the first thing his now partner said to him.

His impression of Petrichor wasn’t a good one at first, he just seemed like a cocky Cuban boy who could happen to control ice, but he turned out to be much more than that. He was loyal to the end, smart, ridiculous brave, reliable, funny, trustworthy and stronger than Keith once thought. The two ended up finding their own rhythm, they grew to trust each other more than anyone else and learnt to fight as one instead of two separate people working towards the same goal.

Of course, then the feelings came, like a tsunami knocking Keith under the water. He was drowning, gasping for air every time the other boy smiled, he was sinking deeper whenever Peri caught him and made a stupid joke about him ‘failing for him’. He’d get distracted in battles when he was ice shards flying past the boy next to him, the air practically sparking around him as his partner formed ice crystals out of thin air.

God, his powers were beautiful. Keith would go feral, clawing at things messily as his skin was stained a dark pink. Peri though… he was graceful when he thought, attacking from a distance, the sunlight catching in his ice, rainbows shining through the air whenever the ice cut through the air. He’s smitten. There’s no doubt about it.

“I don’t know, I just do I guess. You do remind me of a cat, and not just for the ears. You’re feisty as hell, you don’t take any shit from anyone, but you’re still kind. Like, you’re willing to let people past your walls and you’re really sweet when you do.” Keith’s heart had practically stopped in his chest, he always thought that nickname was just mockery or a weird kink thing. But, it was actually really sentimental and sweet? “Plus, you purr.”

“I _WHAT_?!”

He laughs loudly and throws his head back, his mask riding up the tiniest bit to reveal his cheekbones. “Yeah, when you’re particularly happy or calm, you purr. It’s like a deep rumble in your chest, I always thought it was deliberate.”

“WHAT?! NO!!” Keith screams, the only thing louder than his embarrassed screeching being his partner’s laughter. “Oh god, this is humiliating!” Keith hides his face in his hands as he groans loudly, his entire face exploding in a sea of red as the blush creeps down the back of his neck and to the tips of his ears.

Everything happens too fast for Keith to really process, in a grand total of five seconds his entire world is ripped out from under his feet, everything he tried desperately to hide coming crashing down around him.

 **One**.

As Keith buries his hands deeper into his hands, he doesn’t notice his fingers catching the strings of his mask, the strings snapping in half above his left ear. The mask doesn’t fall off right away thanks to his hands pushing it roughly into his face as he continues to freak out about his purring, the broken string out of the view of the blue-haired boy next to him.

 **Two**.

He sighs deeply as he feels the heat around his neck slowly retreat, his heart starting to slow back down as he finally calms. He can still hear the boy next to him laughing, the occasional snort interlaced as he slaps the roof they’re sitting on, at least one of them finds this funny.

 **Three**.

Keith finally looks up, pulling his face out of his hands to look at Peri. This could be called the moment the shit does indeed hit the fan. As he pulls his face away he doesn’t notice the black mask resting in his hands, or the string dangling over the side. He looks directly into his eyes and sniffles out a laugh, not even processing the shocked look on his partners face.

**Four.**

He finally notices the shocked look on the blue-haired boys face, his eyes as wide as plates as his mouth gapes at him, the smallest flush present on his cheeks as he wheezes out a silent scream. It’s then that Keith notices the odd weight in his hands, and the cool breeze against his cheeks, he looks down to see his mask sitting gently in his hands; not attached to his face like he so wishes it is.

 **Five**.

“KEITH?!” The flabbergasted boy screams as he jumps away from Keith, his mouth over his hands in shock. Keith tries to cover his face in vain, knowing full well it’s too late he still tries to hide.

“Wha- no! I don’t know who…” Keith trails off and places his mask down next to him, sighing deeply. There really isn’t a point in denying it. “Yeah… it’s me.”

“AS IN KEITH KOGANE?!” He yells, at least having the courtesy to quiet down enough so he’s not literally shouting his name from the rooftops.

“The one and only?” He says slowly, wincing slightly as the words cut into him. He feels so exposed, even with 95% of his body covered by this damn cat suit, he feels so naked without his mask. Why couldn't his powers be to wipe memories or rewind time? Those would be _incredibly_ handy right now.

“Wait, I need to test my hypothesis.” The tan boy reaches over to Keith, gently gripping his head as he pulls out the hair tie holding his hair up in a messy bun. His hair falls around his red face, bobbing up around his neck as it sticks out at odd angles, the fury of battle messing it up slightly. “Damn, it really is you,” He says as he runs his fingers through Keith’s hair, brushing it down as he plays with it.

“You couldn’t tell before?” Keith says, trying to act casual – there’s no point in freaking out, his partner knows who he is and screaming isn’t going to change that. He can’t ignore the alarm bells screeching in his mind, or the red flags being thrown up at every corner, but the gentle hands running through his hair is really helping.

This time he can feel the loud rumbling in his chest, a guttural purr slipping past his lips as he instinctively pushes back into the light touches on his head. “I would recognise that mullet anywhere.”

* * *

“Jesus Keith, you look like you’ve been run over by a car,” Shiro says as he passes him in the hall.

“Something like that.” Keith grips his coffee tighter as he leans against his locker, using every part of his willpower to stop himself from just napping in the middle of the hallway. He was up most of last night on patrol with Petrichor, and he’s dead because of it. Sure, he does this almost every other day, but yesterday was particularly exhausting with the whole attack.

Not to mention he couldn’t get a minute of sleep, his mind was constantly buzzing with thoughts. Peri had recognised him instantly, that means Petrichor is someone he must see almost daily, or at least often enough for them to be familiar. He couldn’t help but spend the entire night mauling the thoughts over in his head, going through each person he knows and matching up traits between them and his partner.

His entire body aches, he’s covered in scratches and bruises from head to toe from being flung across the city, his hand ache from climbing buildings with his claws and he’s pretty sure there’s a tuft of purple hair on his upper thigh that refuses to de-transform. Overall, he’s not in that great of a mood.

Though, on the bright side, Lance doesn’t look that much better. Not that he wants Lance to get hurt or anything, it’s just good that he won’t stick out and people won’t ask him any more questions. “What happened to you?” Never mind, people are going to ask questions regardless.

“I – uh… had a run in with a cat?” Well, he’s not wrong, he just thinks it’s best that he leaves out the part about him being said cat.

“Hey, Keith!” Lance greets the group – and Keith specifically – when he rocks up, his bag hanging lazily over his shoulder with jacket shucked messily over his otherwise bare shoulder.

“Oh, hey Lance, what’s up?” Keith turns away to open his locker, idly chatting with the boy behind him as he riffles through his books and stationery.

“Nothing much, do anything exciting last night?” Keith slams the locker shut on his hand, yelling loudly as he pushes it away, shaking his hand as it starts to glow a bright red – that’s going to hurt in a few minutes. “Haha, I’ll take that as a yes,” Lance says as he watches Keith clutch his hand, hissing under his breath.

“Yeah, it was a bit hectic,” Keith says as he tries to play off the night, pretending that he was just swamped with homework and not screaming into his pillow as he flailed wildly.

“Practically jumping out of your skin and then slamming your locker on your hand says otherwise,” Lance jokes, his voice holding some level of sincerity as he glances down at Keith’s injured hand momentarily.

“Well, I just-” The bell rings loudly through the halls as students start to file into their classrooms, the chatter in the hallways instantly dying down. Keith finally closes his ajar locker with a light thud as he balances his books on his forearms to protect his thumping hand. “It doesn’t matter, plus we’ve got to get to class,” He says, starting to make his way to Physics with a smile on his face; even if his hand is well and truly burning.

“Yeah, I’ll see you in there-” Lance pauses and steals Keith’s books, running in front of him and spinning around to face him while he jogs backwards. Lance gives him a two-finger salute, “-Kitten.” With that, he jogs off with a laugh that is suddenly too familiar.

Ice blue hair suddenly shifts to light brown in his head, a mask fading away to see Lance catching Keith in the middle of the city, Lance patching his wounds after a long battle, Lance fighting alongside him. Every memory of ‘Peri’ is quickly replaced with Lance, each memory of the two seamless knitting together. Both of their unexplained absences finally made perfect sense, or the little slip ups one of the two would make.

Keith is gaping in the middle of the hallway, his entire world crashing down around him as Lance’s laughter drifts further down the hallway, eventually fading away. The second bell goes off and brings him back to reality, this time his shocked expression quickly fading into a relieved and amused (and possibly a little bit love-struck) grin as he takes off towards his classroom.

If anyone was going to be his partner, he can’t say he’s unhappy with Lance.

Yeah, that’s a lie. He’s over the moon.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my [Tumblr](https://theaviandragon.tumblr.com/) I'm always open to talking, and I'm constantly taking requests for stories over there, so, I hope to see you there!


End file.
